{"id":7449,"date":"2011-09-09T12:19:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T20:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7449"},"modified":"2023-02-05T08:11:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T16:11:19","slug":"irene-you-jezebel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/irene-you-jezebel\/","title":{"rendered":"Irene, you jezebel!"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You come, you stay, you go\/It really doesn’t matter\/You’ve done it all before\/By now they’ll know the pattern<\/em>.” — ABBA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"OK, so Benny & Bjorn<\/strong> were writing about a gal named Elaine not a hurricane called Irene<\/strong>. Although the storm is estimated to have cost Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos $40 million last month, it didn’t change the underlying narrative. J.P. Morgan<\/strong>‘s analysts have accounted for the Irene Effect and estimate that the Boardwalk would still have been -9% from August 2010, acts of God notwithstanding. That’s on top of an 11% declivity in August ’10 and Morgan’s Joseph Greff<\/strong> expects “results will continue to remain soft.” Last June’s mild 4% drop in business looks more and more like an aberration, not “a light at the end of the tunnel.”<\/p>\n

Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong>, Borgata and Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> rode out the storm best<\/a>, while Irene considerably amplified the misery of the city’s lesser casinos, with Trump Plaza<\/strong> falling into last place for the first time I can recall. Bright spots amid the gloom include 10% higher table revenue at Borgata, 22% greater slot drop overall and a 9% slot hold. Well, maybe the latter isn’t a “bright spot” if you’re a player.<\/p>\n

\"\"Misery loves company<\/strong>. Irene dampened slot revenues in Pennsylvania<\/strong>, too, generating some soggy numbers that newbie SugarHouse<\/strong> and besieged Harrah’s Chester Downs<\/strong> (right<\/em>) could do without. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong>, however, brushed off $25 million in lost East Coast revenues<\/a> as chump change. Only Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs<\/strong> (+8%) and Rivers Casino<\/strong> (+6.5%) did better at the slots this year, although Presque Isle Downs<\/strong> General Manager Fred Buro<\/strong> was more inclined to blame the general economy than the barometer.<\/p>\n

\"\"Balancing act<\/strong>. Staying upstate for a moment, Sands Bethlehem<\/strong> is planning to break ground this month<\/a> on a concert venue and have it open by next Memorial Day. Construction deadlines and Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> have a habit of intersecting to form a null set. But company COO Michael Leven<\/strong> (left<\/em>) is clearly determined to be done with $800 million Sands Bethlehem PDQ and plans call for a standard proscenium theater. Presenter-to-be Live Nation<\/strong> might find itself in an uncomfortable position: Client Borgata might not appreciate Sands poaching on its turf with Live Nation’s help. However, Borgata’s hydraulic-lift stage should give it an edge in terms of booking certain acts (especially rock concerts, I would expect). Sands’ efforts to cut in on Atlantic City<\/strong>‘s action will be circumscribed by the limitations of its events center, as well as by any desire Live Nation has to keep both it and<\/em> Borgata happy customers.<\/p>\n

Overseas, it looks<\/strong> as though Sands China<\/strong> needs another $200 million<\/a> as Cotai Strip™<\/strong> Sites 5 & 6 lumber toward completion. Considering the amount of revenue<\/a> that Macao<\/strong> has been throwing off this year, Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> shouldn’t have too much trouble rounding up the extra patacas for a mega-loan who risk is ameliorated by being spread across 10 banks. I’ve heard tell some interesting yarns about how Chairman Sheldon is perceived in the People’s Republic of China<\/strong> and elsewhere in the Pacific Rim<\/strong> … but that’s a story for another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“You come, you stay, you go\/It really doesn’t matter\/You’ve done it all before\/By now they’ll know the pattern.” — ABBA OK, so Benny & Bjorn were writing about a gal named Elaine not a hurricane called Irene. Although the storm … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,28,42,14,117,7,62,91,95,111,12,19,20,21,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32301,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions\/32301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}